Uncomfortable Protection
by alikitties
Summary: Isabelle sends Jace on a little errand that all men dread: Out for tampons


Author's Note: heh, my first shot at MI fanfiction. We just thought it'd be funny for Jace to be stuck in this scenario. Thanks to Marcy for being the wonderful beta that she is XD

I don't own anything MI related, but thanks to Cassandra Clare for sharing with us.

--

Peace and quiet. For one split second in time Jace felt like he could relax. Of course, he knew this was just a lull between two storms but he really didn't care. Even he needed to veg out every once in a while.

He straightened the black t-shirt he wore and left his room, walking down the hall and hearing muffled voices coming from nearby. Female voices. He knew it wasn't Maryse, she had gone out for the day, so it had to be Isabelle and Clary. Clary had been spending more and more time around the Institute lately and Jace wasn't entirely comfortable with her around like this. His feelings about her - for her - were still too raw and he wasn't sure what to make of them. Deep down he was at war with himself. He wished he could chase her off and get her out of danger somehow, but he also wanted to keep her as close as possible, pull her in and never let her go. Of course, she was his sister, so far as he could assume. He simply figured he wanted to protect her as a brother, and yet he knew that his feelings on the matter went deeper than that as much as he tried to deny them.

His steps took him past the door to Isabelle's room. It was propped open, but he didn't look in. He didn't really care what the girls were doing or talking about in there, he just wanted a couple hours to relax. However, the idea of sneaking by unseen only lasted about half a second.

"Jace!" Isabelle called, seeing him through the crack in the door. Jace groaned and turned, seeing it fly open and his black-haired adoptive sister stick her head out. "I need you to do something for me."

"Uh, let me think about that. No." He replied simply and turned to continue on his way. Isabelle reached out and grabbed his shirt in her fist.

"Yes...it's something of an emergency, and unless you want me to tell the whole house what I heard you moaning in your sleep last night..."

Jace's eyes went wide as he looked at her. He'd been dreaming of Clary last night. Had he really been moaning in his sleep? And how did she know that? Was it loud or was she just snooping for anything she could use against him?

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He lied, glowering at her and wrenching his shirt from her grasp. She stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind her, a triumphant grin spreading over her fair features.

"Yes you do." She snickered. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I do believe it involved you moaning something to the effect of 'don't stop' and a certain redhead's name, whom we all know and love."

Jace's bright gold eyes narrowed at his adopted sister, a few strands of his blonde hair dipping over them as his head tilted in anger and his cheeks tinged the slightest color of pink. He couldn't hide that, as much as he wanted and tried to. Isabelle had him cornered, and he knew it.

"Fine. What do you want?" He grumbled.

"I need you to run to the store and get me some tampons."

"OH NO!" He exclaimed, stepping back and waving his arms at her emphatically. "No way! Call Maryse. She has a cell phone for emergencies like this, doesn't she?"

"She won't be home for hours and I need them NOW." Isabelle replied. "And I have no idea where Alec went to. He ran out a couple hours ago and left his phone on the kitchen counter."

Jace just stood there, his jaw going slack as he stared at her. "Why can't you go?"

"Are you deaf or something? I said I need them NOW. What am I supposed to do? Wrap a sweatshirt around my waist? Oh that's not conspicuous at all!"

"Ungh!" Jace groaned loudly. "Fine! I'll go! But you have no idea how badly you owe me!" He didn't even wait for an answer from her as he turned and left in a huff, stalking from the Institute and down the street to the Walgreens a few blocks away.

He walked quickly, with his head down, his brow furrowed. So much for his peace and quiet. And why in the world hadn't she sent Clary? Clary clearly was in there, he'd heard her, and they had clearly been talking. Wouldn't sending a girl after these things be more practical?

_'Of course not,'_ Jace thought, a touch of bitterness to his inner-monologue. _'They are probably having a good laugh at my expense right now. Ha ha, look what we got him to do.'_

He angrily stormed into the drug store, ignoring the girl behind the counter as she said hello, and made to find the aisle of feminine products. The sooner he could get out of here, the better. He finally found the right aisle, having been tipped off by the end cap filled with green plastic packages that held smaller packets wrapped in pink. Why did they have to make this stuff look pretty? He didn't have to be a girl to know they certainly didn't feel pretty when using the stupid things. How could you? If you felt pretty while needing to use this stuff, then there was something seriously wrong with you.

Isabelle had survived more demon attacks than Jace knew how to count, but he seriously doubted she would survive his wrath when he got back to the Institute. As his tawny eyes scanned shelf after shelf of boxes, he realized that he had forgotten to find out exactly what she kind she needed. The selection was overwhelming; pink ones, blue ones, Super, Light, plastic, cardboard. He was completely confused and had no idea why anyone would need so many different kinds of these things. And this was only half the aisle. So far as Jace was concerned, the other half that contained the Pads was an area he didn't dare venture towards. He was just glad that Isabelle didn't insist on some of those as well, his head might have exploded from the sheer magnitude of it.

"You'd think there'd be a rune or something for girls so periods wouldn't be a problem. We have one for everything else for crying out loud." Jace muttered as he picked up a box with a strand of pearls on the front and turned it over, examining it as if it were something foreign and vile. "Toxic Shock? These things can make you sick?! Why the hell would girls..."

"Jace...?"

Jace spun and saw a familiar face at the end of the aisle, staring at him with incredulity. Alec was carrying a basket with a few items in it, some a bit more brightly colored than his adoptive brother would ever dare to use, which only meant one of two things: either he was buying things for Magnus or the party-loving High Warlock was here as well.

Jace swore under his breath as Alec smirked and started toward him. "What are you doing?" He asked cautiously.

"Other than counting down the minutes until I can severely hurt your sister, you mean?" He retorted, putting the small, blue box back on the shelf. Alec stopped, a grin slowly spreading on his face.

"Isabelle got you out here?" He snickered. "My sister got you to go on a Tampon run? What did she blackmail you with?"

"Couldn't I have just decided to be a nice guy for once and run an errand for her?" Jace snipped defensively.

"Not this kind of errand, this took something big on her part!" Alec laughed. Jace rolled his eyes and picked up a box of cardboard tampons, a look of confusion crossing his face.

"Why does that sound like it would hurt?" Jace wondered aloud. "Shoving something made of cardboard into your..."

"Okay! Okay! Stop!" Alec shuttered, shaking his head and covering his ear with his free hand. "I don't want to think about that, especially since you are here on my sisters orders."

"Well it does." Jace smirked and replaced the box on the shelf. "And what in the world is the difference between Pearl and Gentle Glide, if there is one at all?"

"I can't speak for Isabelle, but gentle isn't always a good thing if you ask me." Magnus chimed in as he walked toward the pair, dropping some glittery eye shadow down into the basket Alec was holding. Jace groaned, frustrated and annoyed, and ran a hand through his hair. This would never end.

"Just pick one. If it's the wrong one, tell her to come get her own." Alec said, rolling his eyes and shifting on his feet, starting to look embarrassed. Jace was getting tired of being down this aisle. With his luck, someone who worked there would come find him soon and ask if he needed help which honestly would only make matters worse.

"I have a better idea."

--

Jace tramped off the elevator in the institute and found Isabelle and Clary heading back toward the hall to Isabelle's room. "Hey!" He called, getting their attention. When the girls turned, he got close enough to Isabelle and shoved 3 bags into her arms. "There...tampons."

"Good grief Jace! Did you buy out the whole store?" She gaped, looking between all the bags.

"Practically. You should now have enough of those things to last you a year and I don't want to be asked to go get them for you again." He growled at her. She just smirked at him and turned to Clary, handing each of the bags to her.

"Please Jace, you should know me well enough by now to tell when I'm lying..."

Clary blanched and her eyes widened, a rather mortified expression transforming her face. Jace's eyes shifted between the two girls as he caught on to what just happened.

Isabelle had faked it. Those tampons were for Clary.

"And for future reference, dear brother, I use the Pearl kind."


End file.
